Step 13: Pump Guns - Over-Pressure Release Valve Plug

Step 14: Where to Start Your Modding

You've read the basics, so it's now time to start modding! I will point you in the direction of the NerfHaven Modification Directory. This collection ...

Step 9: Barrel Replacements Part 3: Replacing the Barrel

In this step, I will go over the some approaches to replacing the gun's stock barrel with other barrels that yield higher performance. Generally, the barrel replacement is what increases the gun's power the most. The barrel replacement is an essential modification and is the most common Nerf modification performed on Nerf guns.

I will go over the two most common approaches to this:

Simple Replacement (Singled)Performing a "simple barrel replacement," referred to on Nerf websites as a "singled" gun, is when the new barrel is simply glued in place of the old, stock one. The one drawback of singling a Nerf gun, however, is that it takes longer to load a stefan in the barrel than the coupler setup. If you plan on back-loading stefans, you will have to ram the stefan down to the back of the barrel. In a Nerf war, this is difficult to use, considering the fact that you must carry around a ramrod.

Coupler Setup (Couplered)When you "coupler" your Nerf gun, it is when you glue a coupler in place of the stock barrel. A 1/2" CPVC coupler, for instance, can be glued in place of a barrel so that 1/2 CPVC barrels can be loaded into the coupler. This way, you can take out a barrel, load a dart into the back of the barrel, and put the barrel in the coupler. This makes for faster loading. A couplered Nerf "Big Bad Bow" can be seen in Pictures 1, 2, and 3.

Additionally, setups like that shown in Picture 4 can be used with couplers. This is a simple flip-around barrel, made from gluing two barrels together. I wrapped this flip-around barrel with electrical tape to make it look cleaner. The arrows on the barrels indicate where the barrel faces when it is inserted in the coupler. Pictures 4, 5, and 6 demonstrate the flip-around barrel.

Now, I'm not quite sure what kind of breech you want. If you are referring to a breech in a Longshot or other mag-fed Nerf blaster, this writeup will be useful. On the other hand, if you are referring to a brass breech all within a 1/2" PVC barrel, this will definitely help. However, if you do make a brass breech, you should probably use stefans with it. streamlines are decent, but they don't fit very well in certain sizes of brass, and you will see lower ranges.

I find this, kind of.....weird. I mean, if you have a Nerf gun that feeds from a magazine (like my Longshot), then loading a dart, and then having to cram it farther back in the barrel? Seems like a bit of a waste of time, if not a simple waste of having a magazine-fed rifle. But other than that, you have made yourself one hell of a good Nerf mod guide.

Well, the barrel replacement is mainly for range. In most cases, if a Nerf gun's rate of fire is reduced by a barrel replacement, the greatly-increased range compensates for the rate of fire that is lost. With guns that use breech mechanisms (Nerf guns that are magazine-fed use breech mechanisms), a more-complicated brass breech can be used to replace the stock breech. This maintains the magazine-fed feature of the gun while increasing the range (by replacing the barrel). Of course, some people do single their Longshots rather than fabricate a brass breech assembly. While dramatically reducing the rate of fire, this is the easier alternative to a brass breech if one wishes to do a barrel replacement on a magazine-fed blaster. It pretty much just increases the range of the gun, with the loss of the balster's rate of fire.

That would be 1/2" CPVC. All of the glue is hot glue, but the barrel (as well as the coupler) are holding up quite well. I based it on this mod if you are interested in trying it out. However, rather than singling it, I cut the CPVC down so a stub was sticking out of the orange piece that holds the barrel. I then glued on a CPVC coupler. It really is quite simple, yet very reinforced (with all that hot glue!).

If you are interested in doing that mod, be sure to read the fifth post of the link I provided. It has an important bit of advice that will make your BBB a lot stronger.

As for ranges, I would approximate that it hits around 80-90 feet. It's just a rough estimate, but it's a range to expect from a BBB.

About This Instructable

Bio:I'm Alec. I like to post Instructables whenever I get to work on my own projects. But, that isn't exactly all the time. I usually find myself pretty busy with school, so it's not often that I actua...read more »